A MEMORIAL to a fallen Tyneside hero is expected to attract more than 1,000 folk - this weekend.

Soldiers from around the country, friends and civic dignitaries will join the family of Rifleman Mark Turner for a huge outdoor charity event.

Dubbed the Mark Turner Memorial Day, it will be held in Sheriff Hill, Gateshead, on Saturday and will include paintballing, a laser quest shooting game, football tournament, raffles, beer tents and food.

The event is to become an annual occasion, held in memory of the 21-year-old Rifleman, who was killed by a Taliban bomb in Afghanistan in April.

Gateshead Mayor Michael Hood will open the event and all proceeds will go to the Mark Turner Memorial Fund and the Help for Heroes charity.

Rifleman Turner’s comrades will attend, alongside soldiers from around the country and hundreds of friends and well-wishers.

Organiser Christine Lansdown, a close friend of the Turner family and landlady of the Gardeners Arms in Sheriff Hill, has had a batch of special T-shirts printed for the occasion.

She said: “The response has been absolutely fantastic. I can’t believe how many people have come forward and said they want to volunteer to help on the day too.

“I don’t think there will be a single person on the estate on Saturday who isn’t wearing a Mark Turner T-shirt.”

Rifleman Turner was hailed a hero at his funeral, where mourners heard he was directly responsible for saving the lives of 30 of his comrades.

He was tasked with the unenviable job of searching for roadside bombs in Helmand Province, a duty commonly known as the most dangerous job in the Army today.

Yet it was one of the very explosive devices he so skillfully sought out that ultimately claimed his own life.

Since his death, the wider community of Gateshead has been united in grief for the popular Newcastle United supporter, with drivers from his local taxi firm leading tributes with a sombre parade around the streets of the town.

After his funeral, his mother Ann described him as a “mammy’s boy”.

She added: “He was funny. He had a really straight forward sense of humour. His mates in the Army always used to talk about his cheeky Geordie grin.”